Two charged over Victorian train derailment

Emergency workers inspect the wreckage of a dumped car which caused the derailment of a train near Ballan, 80km north-west of Melbourne. Photo: Wayne Hawkins

Two men were charged today after a fast-moving passenger train hit a vehicle on the Melbourne to Ballarat line and derailed, injuring 48 people.

A police spokeswoman said the Ballarat-bound train carrying 65 passengers collided with a white utility parked on the tracks between the townships of Ballan and Gordon in northwestern Victoria about 5pm (AEDT) yesterday.

Forty-eight passengers were taken to hospital after one carriage left the line and travelled approximately 100 metres through the air before landing on its side down a 20-metre embankment.

The utility was on the tracks about 50 metres before a bridge spanning a small creek.

The train hit the car throwing it off the line and the first carriage of the sprinter train service came to rest about 150 metres beyond the bridge on the other side of the small gully.

The other two carriages remained on the track, but both came off the rails, the second carriage leaning at an angle of about 30 degrees off the side of the railway line.

The car was squashed flat by the impact and was thrown off the railway line about 70 metres down into the creek bed at the base of the small bridge.

One passenger from the train who has serious injuries was flown by air ambulance to the Alfred Hospital and the other 47 who were injured were treated at Ballarat Hospital.

A 23-year-old Wyndham Vale man was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy.

A 35-year-old Wyndham Vale man was charged with recklessly causing serious injury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Both will appear before the Ballarat Magistrates Court tomorrow.

The railway line, between Ballarat and Melbourne was still closed today.

Buses would be used to ferry passengers until the line, which was closed indefinitely, was reopened.